Home Depot wants to open an outlet at Portland and Queen W. as many long-time small businesses in the area die from a combination of rising rents and a changing business climate.
Gentrification, which has transformed a western swath of the street into boutiques, cafés, restaurants and art galleries, continues to push Queen St.'s traditional stores out of business, or off the street.
It has also split traditional businesses still on the street into two groups: those struggling with rocketing rents and those that own buildings now worth a small fortune. Business may be tough for most long-time merchants, but those who own their buildings can at least look forward to a relatively comfortable retirement.
The few hanging on thank loyal customers and the ultimate in niche marketing. In the trendy heart of Queen St. W., between University and Gladstone Aves., shoppers in need of a used traffic light or a wringer washing machine can still get satisfaction. ...
Zafar Iqbal has a sign on his shop announcing the closing of his radio and TV repair service, at Manning Ave., after 50 years of business.
"I don't blend in here any more," says Iqbal, 67, referring to the street's transformation.
Iqbal bought International Radio & T.V. in 1994 after working there 20 years. For the past decade, it has been cheaper to buy new electronic equipment than to get old stuff repaired.
"I didn't want to believe it. Now I definitely know: This business is dying," he said.
Just west, an old sign above the popular Terroni restaurant recalls a business that sold "a complete line of guns and fishing tackle."
A shifting economy has also put the owner of Pantev Sewing Machines, near the Trinity-Bellwoods Park, out of meaningful business. He last sold a sewing machine in January and says he keeps the store open because staying at home would bore him to death.
"All the manufacturing jobs went to China," said the owner, who arrived from Bulgaria in 1973. "Nobody sews any more."
The consolation for Iqbal and Pantev's owner – indeed, for several of the mom and pop businesses that have closed their doors – is that they own or used to own property on a street where two-storey buildings sell for about $2 million.
So those who owned their buildings will do okay. Those who didn't do not have a financially secure future.
Mind you, this is a long-term trend. I can certainly see evolving change in the mix of businesses down there since I moved to Toronto seven years ago.
Some of that is for the better. Ossington between Queen and Dundas looked a lot grittier back then than it does now. And creative destruction is an inherent part of capitalism, however sad that may be for those on the receiving end. If no one needs TVs fixed or to buy sewing machines any more, you're screwed if you're in those businesses.
But moving in a huge, fundamentally suburban chain store to Queen/Portland won't change the neighbourhood for the better. Quite the opposite, in my opinion. The scale will dwarf all other businesses, and the area is already facing traffic congestion. What makes Queen W. work is the small, entrepreneurial nature of the businesses. Putting a giant square peg in that hole won't work.